New World
by Invisible-Breath
Summary: The flock meets six strange, foreign people while out one night. They're leader (Lark) offers them to come with them to their country and learn to fight. Though Lark only offers to teach them to fight, can the flock find something more with with these ragtag boys? Home and a larger, crazier, family. I'm sorry, I truly suck at summaries. Descriptions for OC's at chapter 3.
1. Chapter 1

Angel's Point of View:  
The flock and I walked into an all you can eat buffet. It was huge and completely packed out. I looked around and quickly grabbed Max's hand. Max looked down and smiled as we walked to the hostess. "Hello, how may I help you?" the smiley lady at the front said. "Yes, we'd like a table for six." Max said taking up the leader mantra.  
"Sure! You're here for the buffet?"  
"Yes we are." Max handed her the credit card and paid for us to eat.  
"Okay, well we only have half of table empty in a private parlor. So, either your going to have to wait, or do you want to come with me and ask the others if they'll allow you to sit with them."  
With a quick glance at the flock, who we all were starving, she said, "We'll join you."  
I looked up at her and as we followed the hostess into the back. We walked into a private room and heard ractus laughter. "I can...not... Believe you said that!" Someone breathed through laughing. I looked at Max questioningly, she shrugged. Suddenly the laughter got cut short and six different sets of eyes looked at us. One giant and blue, one behind glasses and hazel, one normal and a light brown, another dark brown and soulful, a trouble full pair that was dark green and had yellow tendrils, and lastly a silver pair that was slanted with the pupil having thousands of colors around it. "Well what do we have here?" The green eyed one asked, he had red hair and was about five eight from what I could tell. "Hello gentlemen..." That's as far as they got before the all six of them busted out laughing. "Gentlemen?" The hazel eyed guy was talking now, he had dark skin like Nudge, Except it was even darker. "Umm... Sirs then." the lady was flustered and her thoughts were saying, 'these boys are crazy. If it wasn't for them paying a hefty price they probably wouldn't be allowed in here!', "These folks were wondering if they could sit with you." The hostess said politely. "If it's alright with you." Max addressed the blonde haired one, who was by far the biggest. "Uh, why are you addressing me?" He asked.  
Max was taken aback I could tell, "You're the leader, right?"  
The dark skinned boy snorted, "He wishes!"  
"Like Lark would let him!" The red headed guy said.  
"Not to mention you'd probably spend all the money, AND get us all killed in less than a day." The boy with silver eyes spoke softly.  
The brown eyed boy made quick signals with his hands and all of them burst out laughing.  
"So which one of you is Lark." Max was getting annoyed quickly.  
The boy at the very end, who was by far the smallest in height and stature and who hadn't spoken yet, stood up, "I believe you want to talk to me, I am the leader of these misfits and oddballs."  
"Lark, you realize that you just told them that you are essentially the greatest misfit here?" The boy with silver eyes said, he had silver hair to his shoulders and his eyes flashed as he smiled. Lark gave him a look, but the corner of his mouths twitched slightly upward. I had to stop myself from giggling. "Sorry, you wanted to know if you could eat with us?" Lark asked, suddenly business again. "Yeah," Max was off putted by the leader I could tell, so was the rest of the flock, except Iggy. Quickly, sent Iggy a mental picture and could sense his surprise as well. "Would you mind giving us a minute?" Lark asked politely, but firmly. Max just nodded dumbly and we walked to hang out by the door.  
"What are they saying Ig?" Asked Max, because Iggy has the best hearing.  
"'what do you think Sly?' 'They have a little girl Lark.' 'Good point.'" I got a cold feeling through me when they said that, "'how about you Dirk?' 'they kind of remind me of us, we should let them sit.' 'Alright, RIP?' 'As long as we aren't paying for them, I don't care.' 'Way to be passionate about your input, really appreciate you blessing us with your deep thoughts.' 'welcome, Lark.' 'How 'bout you Bot? You're right, we definitely have to consider the little one.'" Everyone stared at me and I shivered slightly, "'Watt, what do you think?' 'Lark, you already know what I would say. They're us. We can't just leave them out, besides this place has tons of food and they look starving.' 'I agree. So have we reached and agreement?'" Iggy looked at us, "What does that mean?" He asked.  
"We've reached an agreement." Lark announced. Looking at us he smiled brightly, changing his whole appearance. Where a second ago it had been hard and cold now it was dimpled, bright, and light. Nudge's thoughts were so loud I heard them without trying, 'Oh, God, he's cute!'. "By an anonymous vote you guys can eat with us."  
I pulled on Fang's sleeve, "What does 'anonymous' mean?" I whispered  
"it means they all agree." Fang said and pulled over to a seat. "I believe introductions are in order!" Lark declared, "As I'm sure you've gathered by now, I'm Lark. These are my compadres. This is Watt." The boy with silver hair smiled widely and waved, I felt Max's shock. Watt was beautiful. He had high cheek bones and angular features. "He's a freak not only in one country but in two," Watt nodded seriously but with a small flash of humor in his cat like eyes, "The trouble maker and little devil here is Sly." The red head waved unnaturally long fingers at us and grinned. "Hey, sweetheart," He came and knelt by me, "what have you got behind your ear?" Sly reached behind my ear and pulled out a sapphire ring. I gasped felt behind my ears. He laughed, "here." He placed the ring in my palm and pushed my fingers to cover it, "you keep that. Oneday it'll fit."  
He stood up and went back to his seat. Lark looked at him with a sort of exasperated love, "Sorry about Sly, he loves little kids. He has a sister who he takes care of. He wanted you guys to eat with us specifically because of her. This is Dirk, he's huge and has to stoop through every door way." Dirk waved a massive hand at us, "This is RIP. Or R-I-P. He will trick you faster than you can say 'gravy'." Lark pointed to the dark skinned one. "Last, but certainly not least, is Bot. He also loves little kids, he really wanted you to sit with us too." Bot waved and made a bunch of hand signals at me. I looked around desperately, unsure what to do. "oh, sorry. Bot doesn't speak. He uses signs, but not ASL. He just said, 'I love your hair and your eyes. What's your name little angel?'"  
"My name is Angel." A surprised look, and a flurry of hand signals which Lark translated to, "'A very fitting name. Pleased to meet you Angel, I'm Bot.'" Lark suddenly looked at him, "She already knows your name is Bot! I just introduced you." Rolling his eyes, Lark sat heavily. Watt patted his arm, Lark snorted and Watt laughed. "Well, Um, I'm Max." Max said a little surprised at their silent conversation, "And this is Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel." She said pointing to each of us in turn. Then Nudge opened her mouth before Max could prepare them.  
"Hi! I'm Nudge. Wow! You're all really handsome, especially you." she pointed at Watt, "actually your more beautiful to hot. Dirks', rip, and bot are more handsome. Sly's pretty. And lark, you're cute! And kinda beautiful! I was just wondering, what kind of hair coloring do you use? I mean I've never seen anyone with silver hair, even people who dye their hair and I doubt that...mph MPH!" Iggy covered Nudge's mouth. "Sorry,"Max apologized. "No need," Watt answered, "And to answer your question, I don't dye my hair. It grows out of my head this color. I like it, but it certainly makes me stick out in a crowd!"  
Nudge and I laughed, but Max frowned. 'he's telling the truth! His hair really is silver,' I mind spoke to her. She looked at me, clearly surprised and then smiled as well. "I was just wondering well, I'm sure we're all wondering by the looks on everyone's face when you said you were leader, why are you leader, I mean Dirk is obviously bigger than you. How did you become leader?"  
Lark suddenly looked perplexed and he whispered fiercely to Watt. Watt whispered something back that was a little quieter. Lark again whispered and Watt suddenly returned. This went on for over a minute. Suddenly, Sly sighed loudly, saying, "We know that you two are arguing. No none of us has any clue what you're saying. Stop arguing silently please. Shout like normal people." and they stopped and nodded at each other.  
"Okay, Freaks! Go get your food!" The four boys jumped up and ran to the food shouting at each other the entire way. Lark stood up and looked at us, smiling warmly, "I'm sorry, but you really shouldn't have asked that in front of those hooligans."  
"What about that one?" I asked, pointing at Watt. Watt grinned at me, "Although all of us are a little crazy, I'm not one of the hooligans, that is specifically reserved for those guys." I like Watt's thoughts. From just grazing the surface they were happy and light, but I could feel something dark that lurked further in, something bad. It made me not want delve to deep.  
"Exactly," Lark said, looking at Watt, "You wanted to know why I'm leader because..."  
"It's because although he's the smallest he could kick all of our asses, and he's saved our asses plenty of times as well. He's the smartest and the strongest. So he get's to be leader. Besides, there's another side to the story that adds to it. It effects the whole thing, that's how he became leader. I mean, you can fight him if you want to see if you can beat him, but trust me he is deceptively strong." I could see Max's contempt on her face. She didn't believe that Lark could beat her.  
"You doubt my abilities." Lark said quietly, and Max looked at him.  
"I'm also very strong, I doubt that you could best me."  
"A match then, how I love a good brawl." Lark glanced at Watt, he nodded and began to clear the tables, Fang joined him and they talked quietly. I saw money exchange hands near Gazzy and Iggy but watched Lark. Lark's mind wasn't flustered, in fact where as Max's was cluttered during battle, Lark's was crystal clear and sharp. This was not a good beginning.  
"Are you sure about this Max?" I whispered, Max looked at me, slightly hurt, "you don't think I can beat him, Look at him Ange!"  
"Max, I don't think that he's what he seems, you should be careful."  
"Thanks, Ange. But I can take care of myself."  
Perplexed, I walked away, Max and Lark were squaring off now. I felt Lark's rapid fire thoughts, they moved so fast I couldn't even keep up with them. Lark moved slightly, swaying while Max stood still. Then she attacked, Lark lunged to the side. Avoiding the punch that would have sent his head spinning. In fact, as Max continued to try and hit him, Lark didn't throw a single punch back. Inside Lark's mind, I could see him connecting the dots, getting Max's fighting style and seeing her pattern. Then suddenly the last piece fell into place and I felt Lark tense up being ready for the next move. Max brought her foot up in a quick round house kick and blindingly fast Lark brought up his hand.  
I had seen what was going to happen in Lark's mind, but this was Max's fight, not mine so I hadn't done anything.  
Time seemed to slow. And Lark flashed Max a wicked grin, one that sent shivers down my spine, and then he twisted. Max's spine was bent out of order and she collapsed to the ground. Before she could get up, Lark put a foot on her chest. Even Fang gasped, Watt didn't do anything just nodded. Lark leaned close to Max's face putting weight on her food. "I'm sorry it had to come to this that I had to prove myself to you, but you must know; I am not at all what I seem."  
MPOW: 'What the hell just happened?' Was all I was thinking about right now. I thought I had been winning, with my mutant speed and everything and this guy hadn't even thrown as single blow. I thought he was getting pressure cooked when his body tensed, then I was flat on my back. All I could remember was something grasping my foot, and a grin. A malicious grin that frightened even me.  
Admiration flowed through me, as I looked up into humongus gorgeous blue eyes. Eyes that beat even Angel's. Lark whispered to me, "I'm sorry it had to come to this that I had to prove myself to you, but you must know; I am not at all what I seem." Then he let me up, moving gracefully to stand next to his friend Watt. Watt smiled at him with something I had never seen before flashing in his eyes when he looked at Lark, he touched Lark's arm gently and said something to him. Lark laughed and they walked off still talking. Still on the ground, the flock looked at me astounded, "Go get food, be back soon." Everyone left except Fang who came over and offered a hand to me. I accepted and he hauled me to my feet. "They were interesting." Fang said quietly looking at Lark and Watt still.  
"that boy has moves, I didn't think a regular human could beat us."  
"They're very intriguing."  
I looked at Fang, something had flashed in HIS eyes, "What is it."  
"Nothing, let's get some food." We went off, going to different places. I kept tabs and all my flock and looked at the boys who we were now eating with. Lark commanded them with ease and they listened without hesitation, but in a way that didn't really seem like he was commanding them. He asked their opinions, wanted to know what they liked, and spoke to them like he was just a regular guy. How strange. My attention was drawn to Watt, and I looked at the back of his head. His hair was a wonder, he was really beautiful. Watt turned his head and caught me staring at him. A lazy smile curved his lips and he winked at me. I must have blushed because he grinned broadly and turned his attention to Dirk, his silver hair fanned and caught the light making it shine. I went back to getting food and saw fang and nudge staring at me. Nudge looked excited while fang was closed off. "What?" I asked, and Nudge came over by me, "You like him don't you?" She was whispering, and was very excited.  
"What?! I don't know him! No Way!"  
"Okay, what ever you say Max." Nudge twirled away her plate already piled high as she went back to the room. By the time I got back, the table was in its original place, and most of the people were back. In fact all except Lark and Watt. I twisted in my seat just in time to see Watt walk through the door with four plates. He set one down in Lark's spot and looked at the door with a bemused expression. Lark came in looking comical. He had a plate on his head and three on each arm. Each plate had at least seven different foods on it, some more. I stared as Lark walked quickly with balance and grace enough so the plates didn't even quiver. Even Iggy's jaw dropped and I guessed that Angel sent him a mental picture of what Lark was doing. "Watt, help me out a little?" Watt shook his head in amusement, "You looked like this when you asked me to carry your eighth plate, how did you even get them all like this?"  
"That is beside the point right now. Help me already, damnit!"  
"Lark, profanity! There are small children around!" Sly whispered to him, as Watt moved to take some plates and put them on the table. Lark's was so short, shorter than angel even, that his head was level to just under Watt's collar bone which was visible in the V-neck shirt. "It was nice of you to get food for all of your... What do you call them? What are you?" angel asked  
Lark smiled at angel, "Most people call us gang. Not a bad gang. Like scooby-doo and the gang. But, we're more than that. We're family. All we have left." Nods of agreement from the rest of the boys as he spoke, "And I didn't get this food for them, this is MY food."  
The entire flock exchanged glances. We need three-thousand calories every day, and we don't eat that much. Fang didn't eat that much, and he was almost twice as big as Lark and couldn't eat that much. Fang and I shared a glance, there was no way that was going to happen. "Alright, boys, and guests, let us tuck in!" Lark began eating with ravenous gusto that I had never seen before. The other boys ate fast as well. I mean, the flock and I ate quickly, but not fast enough to clear three plates in a little less than a minute. Less than ten minutes later, all eight plates were cleaned. "Alright." Lark clapped and rubbed his hands together, "who's up for desserts?"  
"How are you still alive?" Gazzy demanded, staring at him, "I can't even eat that much!"  
"I have a very fast metabolism." Lark smiled.  
"Look at this." Watt said, and lifted Lark up and on to the table by his armpits, then he lifted Lark's shirt up to the about his ribs. I almost gasped in shock. Lark was rail thin, thinner than any of us, and he had a eight pack. "Do you see this? If anyone else ate like him, they'd be fatter than Fat Albert. But no, not this guy. Where does he even put his food?" Watt patted Lark's stomach, "Weird right?"  
"Will you quit showing me off like an exotic bird or something? I want sweet stuff." Lark complained.  
Watt smiled, "Alright, alright, quit bugging me you pain in the ass."  
"Profanity Watt!" Sly shouted as Lark ran for the dessert table.  
"Sly, you're just as bad as any of us, I'm going for desserts." Watt turned and waved as he left. Sly made a childish face at his back, than gave him the middle finger. "I would so call you out on what you just did Sly, but there are little kids around." Watt's smooth voice floated through the door, and Iggy's jaw dropped. "Dude, he must have even better perception than I do." Bot signed something to dirk, who told us, "Bot wants me to tell you that if you think Watt has amazing perception, you should see Lark." Dirk paused for thought for a second, "That's true, Lark's been known to throw things at people with his eyes closed, and hit with spot on aim. I don't think I've ever seen Lark miss before."  
"What's with their relationship?" Fang asked suddenly, and the entire flock gaped. Fang rarely talked, let alone to strangers. Surprisingly, it was RIP who answered. "We don't know," He sighed heavily, pushed his glasses up, and looked at us, "When we joined their group, they were like this. Time has only strengthened their bond. It's a little disorientating at first, especially when you see them argue. It's like they're a couple sometimes. They know just what to say to each other, and if Lark's angry, Watt's the one we send to help him out. Sly here suggested that they were couple the first time they really argued in front of us. You just have to get used to it."  
Suddenly standing, I said, "I'm going to get dessert," before walking out. Watt and Lark were next to each other, Lark was saying something that made Watt smile before replying. He said something back to him, they're relationship was strange. Strange to the point where they almost looked like a couple like RIP had said. Lark spotted me and waved me over grinning, "Oh boy, here we go." I heard Watt say, rolling his eyes. Lark smacked his arm, while he shrugged. "Okay, here's the thing..." Lark began but Watt interrupted with, "Lark here is being an a stubborn jack ass in saying that in a fight a hand to hand fighter would win against someone with a freaking mace."  
This is what they're arguing about? What the hell is this? A mace against hand to hand? How did this conversation even begin? What is a mace anyway?  
"Um, I don't know."  
"You don't know about classic fighting?" Lark looked at me shocked, and I took a breath to soothe my anger.  
"No."  
"Lark, we go to a school to be trained in classic fighting. I don't think that everyone knows about classic fighting, battle tactics, strategies, and things like that. You can't blame people when they can't go to battle school." He leaned down and whispered something in his ear. It was as if a light bulb went off in Lark's head and he nodded then turned to me, "Sly is a hand to hand fighter. He does well in combat that involves being in close quarters. He prefers small knives and shrukins. RIP uses an axe. Which is close to a mace. RIP is pretty big, so that means he can wield one and the force behind it. Imagine him with a the handle of an ax except it's metal. At the end instead of a blade there's a giant metal ball about the size of a ten pound bowling ball and has spikes coming out of it. There's a small ball at the end, about the size of a base ball, to keep your hand from sliding off the end. We upgraded RIP's axe like that so he doesn't lose his grip though it also had the leather grip like most do, but sometimes he makes me nervous swinging that thing. He can't loose his grip though, that could end badly! So, imagine Sly fighting RIP with RIP having a mace." I blinked. I still didn't know what weapons this person was talking about, "I don't know. I guess mace would win?"  
"Wrong!" Lark grinned from ear to ear and watt groaned, "Oh, great, now look what you've done."  
I couldn't help but feel an almost motherly affection to this small boy who was psyched about something I didn't understand. "Why am I wrong?" but that didn't make sense that I was wrong either. Big heavy weapon trumps guy with almost no weapons anyway. Lark grin widened, if possible, and he began to explain animatedly, "Well, a person RIP's size is not very agile or fast. You've never seen Sly. But just imagine someone super fast and that moves like a cat. It would be so easy for Sly to dodge the mace, and with the momentum and force it takes to swing a weapon like that he would be thrown off balance. Then all Sly would have to do would be to stick a knife in his back or something. Or break his neck, or anything like that! Pretty sweet, huh?" He was pretty excited in a mild way. I realized what Nudge had said was true, Lark was pretty damn cute. But, Watt was beautiful. Period. I felt Angel in my head, 'he is pretty. What do you think of him and Lark?'  
I kept my annoyance to a reasonable level, remembering that she was just asking me a question, 'I think that they're fun, and I want to find our about this school that they go to. It might be a good place for us. But they're weird towards each other.'  
I could feel Angel's emotions through the link, excitement, fear, happiness, and bewilderment, 'what school?'  
'Apparently they go to some sort of fighting school. I think it would be useful for us to go and learn new techniques.'  
'Are you sure you just don't want to be close to Watt?' I could hear the amusement in her mind voice.  
'I'm sure, I'm going to ask them about this.' I turned to Lark and Watt who were now arguing heatedly about something else as they piled desserts on their plates. "So, I was wondering if I could go to your school and check it out or whatever." A strange look passed between Lark and Watt, "you... Can't." Lark said, voice quiet and all emotion suddenly swiped off his face.  
"What?! Why not?" I asked outraged, did they have something against us or something.  
"No, it's not because we don't like you or anything..." Watt held out a hand in a gesture of peace and to calm down  
"It's just the school is an all boys school." Lark whispered, and something flashed in his eyes. Watt looked down at him, and said something in a hushed tone I couldn't make out. Lark gave him a look and shook his head violently. Watt made a gesture at me. And then Lark made another one back. What the hell was happening?  
"I can't!" I heard Lark whisper fiercely, with a catch in his voice. Then he groaned covering his eyes. "There is away." He said suddenly, glaring at Watt between the slit of two fingers, "Actually, how old are you and your companians?"

I looked at him, "Me, Fang, and Iggy are 18. Nudge is 16. Gazzy is 12. And Angel is 10."

"Okay, that actually changes a lot. You aren't elgible to go, you're too old. They only take students starting at fourteen. And I'd doubt that once you hear about where we'd send you'd people you'd send them alone. So, we'd teach you. But you'd have to move to our country with us, and it's going to be very difficult. But not impossible.

I paused, did I really want to uproot us and move to another country with some complete strangers? But, than, I remembered how Lark had fought, how simple and easy the moves had come to him and how graceful he was. We could learn so much from them.

Lark seemed to notice my hesitation. "Sleep on it. We'll be in town for the next few days. Check Hot Topic, and Earthbound for me tomorrow, Watt will you be with me?" He looked up at him, while Watt just rolled his eyes. "I have to, who else is going to make sure you don't rip someone's heart out with your bare hands?" I scoffed inside, rip someone's heart out? You've got to be kidding me. "Thank you," Lark said sincerely, then said to me, "Sly and RIP will probably be somewhere fancy, or somewhere where they sell nice clothes. Then Dirk and Bot will more then likely be at Old Navy or someplace like that. All of us are meeting up at American Eagle, then at Nike outlet. Something or some other sports place. After this, we're going to our hotel. Well, I want food, so I'll talk to you later." Lark sauntered away with his three plates putting one on his head, "How the hell does he do that?" I muttered, watching him. "Years of training. Poor guy."  
"What?" I asked, looking up at Watt who was staring at where Lark had just walked through, "What do you mean?"  
"Lark spent every year since he was five doing this. Almost Everyday. No break. He trained. And when he didn't train he learned, or ate, or slept, or did something along the lines of survival necessity. You guys look like you've been through a lot. But you have no idea what he's been through. Lark is a stuck. He has the body of a boy, but the spirit of a warrior. And he's trying to make it in a mans world. That's why he knows what you'll need to do. That's why he doesn't doubt that you guys can't do it. If any of the rest of our guys were in charge, they probably would have never considered that you could learn to fight."  
Sexist pigs. What's new? Apparently they're in this group as well. Hm. Small world. "And what about you?"  
"Four years ago when I was fourteen? Yes. I would have told you that you couldn't do this. Right now? Go for it, I don't know if you personally can, but I'm not going to tell you know just because of what you are." Watt finally turned his silver eyes on me, "You probably don't understand how someone can just change like that, but I met someone, and they made me reconsider everything."  
"Who'd you meet?"  
"Someone very special. And I doubt I'll find I'll find a girl like her again." His words hurt for some unknown reason, but I ignored that, instead shoving it inside. "What's her name?" I asked politely.  
"I can't tell you."  
"Why not."  
"Too dangerous, plus I don't know you." Watt looked at me, then winked, "Although we could change that. We'll be in town for a while, it'd be cool to get a chance to hang out with you." I flushed as Watt turned and walked away. "Did he ask you out on a date?" Nudge suddenly popped up in front of me. "What?" I asked surprised, then realized what she said, "No! He was just saying that he'd like to hang out sometime. What do you think about going to the mall tomorrow?"  
"OMG?! ARE YOU JOKING MAX?! I WOULD LOVE TO! I'M SO EXCITED! WE CAN GO CLOTHES SHOPPING AND I CAN FINALLY GET RID OF ALL THESE OUTDATED FASHION STATEMENTS! Purple is so not in anymore. I need something else. Besides, I also want a bag so I don't always have to leave so much stuff behind. Where are you going to meet them? That's why were going isn't it?"  
" Lark invited us to join up with them, yeah. RIP and Sly will be at some nice clothing places, then Dirk and Bot will be at Old Navy or American Eagle."  
"Mm-hm. What about Lark and Watt?"  
"Lark said that he was going to Hot Topic and Earthbound, then he asked if Watt was going to accompany him, and he just answered that he had to make sure that Lark didn't kill anyone. Then all of them will be at sport outlets later."  
"This is going to be so much fun!"  
All I could think was 'great. What did I just get myself into?'


	2. Chapter 2

I was starting to really wish I hadn't done this. I mentioned going to the mall, and Angel, Nudge, even Gazzy and Iggy pulled out all the stops with bambi eyes. I hadn't even known Iggy and Gazzy could do bambi eyes. "For convenience sake," I stated, leader like, "Boys will be with each other and girls will be with each other." I almost cringed as I said those words. Fang wordlessly raised an eyebrow at me, knowing that I hated shopping with passion. I also knew that he knew that I would rather go with the girls when hell froze over. "We'll meet for lunch at the food court around twelve thirty."

"Alright, girls, let's go," I said, taking Angel and Nudge's hands and leading them away. The way Fang was staring at me, silently challenging me to what was really going on was giving me the creeps.

"So where are we going first, Max?" Angel asked, skipping while swinging my arm. "Um, where do you guys want to go first?" I asked, smoothly. "I know! How 'bout we go to to Hot Topic?" Nudge said slyly, and I shot her a look.

"That's a great idea!" Angel beamed, "They have really cool stuff! And funny t-shirts!"

Now I was getting double teamed, "Alright, alright," I told them, "Let's go."

When we got to Hot Topic, I prayed to the gods above that two people were and weren't there. I didn't know which one I wanted to come true more. Then I heard Angel, "Lark! Watt! You're here too?!" She yelled happily. Nudge screeched when she saw them as well, and give them giant hugs. Though they didn't object, Lark shied away from the touch a little and Watt noticeably flinched eyes closing fast until Lark laid a hand on his arm. Watt opened his eyes and looked down at him. Lark just looked at him with the largest eyes possible, and slowly shook his head, Watt smiled and Lark smiled back. "So what are you two up to?" I interrupted.

"Nothing," Lark said immediately, looking up at the shirts on the wall.

Watt apparently didn't agree.

"Nothing my ass! First some jack-ass tries to mug Lark when he left to get us drinks, then we had to explain to the mall security why a man was being picked up in an ambulance. After that, then Lark had a problem with some girl who tried to pick him up."

"That wasn't a pick up line! That wasn't someone asking for my number! That was a DTF girl who asked me to meet her at a motel!" Lark yelled from where he was a little ways down.

"That's no excuse for giving her the Rejection Hotline number, and hiding in a clothes rack until she left!"

"Watt, she was scary!"

"Well thank you for leaving me to fend for myself."

"She didn't even approach you, although she was thinking about it, I could tell."

"Why the hell was she in Earthbound in the first place? That is not a good place to pick up guys." Watt mused suddenly.

"I don't know! If you want to know so badly, find her and ask."

Watt rolled his eyes, ignored Lark, then turned back to us, "Anyway, we had a few other minor problems. But it's all water under the bridge. He's here. He's fine now. I'm sure that this won't the last incident for today, but hopefully I prevent him from killing anybody."

"And for that the world and I thank you!" Lark shouted, giving him a thumbs up.

"Ohhh, riiiiight," Watt rolled his eyes again and yelled, "Sure you Walang karne" Lark suddenly gasped and looked at him eyes burning. There was a blur of motion then Watt was on his back, Lark straddling him as he back handed Watt. "Take it back, bastard!" Lark growled in a way that made me want to take a step back. I mean, you think a short, cute kid like this isn't scary, but he made me want to avoid him more than I wanted to avoid Fang when he was in a mood. After several moments of glaring at each other, Watt tipped his head to the side. Lark nodded, then got up.

I tried not to dwell on what happened to much, trying to understand them, even after less than twenty-four hours, was giving me a headache. "Oh! What do you think of this?" Nudge suddenly asked, holding up a rainbow shirt that said, 'I eat unicorns!' in black on it. "Um, it's really colorful?" I tried. Lark looked at it, rolled her eyes and said, "If you really want some fashion advice, you should talk to Sly. He's pretty damn good with that stuff. Do you think we have picked anything up from him?" He asked Watt who shrugged. "Maybe," He said, obviously not listening. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Lark said, and Watt shook his head, glancing over. "Huh? Whoa," He put up a hand and squinted like he was looking directly in the sun. "Nudge, are you trying to give me a seizure?" Nudge's face fell and my anger spiked. "Hey, I'm just teasing," Watt said, surprised by Nudge's reaction. I was about ready to tell him off, when Lark grabbed my arm and shook his head. "He didn't think she'd take it like that. We always insult each other. The seizure comment was just to let her know that the shirt was bright. It didn't mean that he didn't mean to hurt her feeling, or that he didn't think she'd look good in it. In a nonpervert way." He added the last part hastily.

"While I'm sure you could undoubtedly pull that shirt off without a hitch," Watt said, now looking at the walls, "I personally, and I like to think that Sly, RIP, and Lark would agree..." He trailed off, leaned close and whispered loudly, "Bot dresses in all black and Dirk is just a lazy bumskie. Not that Lark is much better, but our country doesn't really have clothes his size. Everything hangs off his shoulder, so you can't really say anything about it.."

Nudge giggled uncontrollably as did Angel. I merely smirked and watched to see what he would pull.

"As I was saying, I think you would do very well in this shirt," Watt pulled a yellow shirt with black sequencing down. He presented it to her and showing the writing that said 'Beauty Queen with a Sting' Ohmygodit'sperfectYouweresorightIloveitsomuchandye llowissoinrightnowandhowdidyouthinkthatthatwouldbe goodImeanyouhardlyknowmeoranyoneinourFlocksoyoucou ldn'tknowtogetthatandIloveitsososososomuch!thankyo uthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Then Nudge flung her arms around his neck and hugged him for what seemed like forever. "Your welcome, and you should try it on first. You know, incase I got the wrong size. But I think you're an extra small, Lark; what say you?"

"I says I has to agrees. But that she should try it on still." Lark was now standing next to Watt, eyeing Nudge with a critical eye, "It will look good against you skin color, what about these jeans?" Lark darted off and reappeared holding a pair of light blue jeans with white bleached spots. It was supposed to be a fashion statement because next to the dark bright yellow of the shirt Nudge loved it. She went to the changing rooms to try it one. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Watt asked Lark grinning. "That depends if your thinking about what to eat for lunch?" Lark answered absently staring at the T-shirts.

"Lark..."

"I know, accessories." They grinned at each other and took off in opposite directions. "They're crazy," I told Angel.

"They have good hearts, but their minds... They've been through a lot. And from what I can tell, Lark isn't normally like this with new people, and he's... More sarcastic and jaded. But from what I can see in Watt's mind without digging, he's getting better. Watt almost glows with pride sometimes." They both returned within a second of each other a minute later. "Angel, you probably know better than us, so what do you think?" Lark asked and they held out what they brought.

"I think she'll love it." Angel smiled widely. "Do you think we should get her shoes?" Lark asked.

"Combat boots."

"Watt, you have a beautiful, beautiful mind." They both dashed off again to return with a hair accessory and boots. "Are we going overboard?" Lark suddenly asked Watt when they came back. "I sure as hell don't think so, Yo' Max, think this is too much?" Watt asked me abruptly. "Huh? Uh, no. Nudge will love it."

"Perfect!" Lark clapped his hands, smiling. Just than Nudge came around the corner, sporting the new clothes. "You were right! I love it!" She all but screamed as she twirled. "Wait! Don't stop now." Lark pushed Nudge into a chair, than began strapping the jewelry on her. "Are your ears pierced?" He asked, Nudge nodded, showing Lark the piercing she had gotten for her fourteenth birthday. Oh, did I forget to mention that it has been two years since we destroyed Itex and saved the world? Guess it just slipped my mind and all. I watched as Lark fussed over Nudge's hair and everything.

Okay, fussed isn't the word. He simply pulled it back in this bun with some ordemental chopsticks. On his command, Watt gave Nudge the boots to put on and lace up. When everything was done, Lark stepped back away from Nudge, cocked his head to the side, and examined her critically. "WWSD and WWST?" Lark muttered to Watt who whispered softly back, "He would do make-up and would think that we did pretty damn good, you know, after he finished telling us everything we could have done better and all the improvements and add ons he would make. Oh, and he would have done a more elaborate hair style, which is kind of bad considering he practices on us."

"What does WWSD and WWST mean?" Angel asked suddenly, clearly breaking their chain of thought.

"What Would Sly Do and What Would Sly Think." Lark answered, vaguely as he continued to make sure that Nudge looked fine, "I have to agree with you Watt, she's looking pretty good." Watt nodded then said, "I thought we came here to get clothes for you."

"Originally, that was the plan, but to be quite honest; I could see you wearing this stuff more than I would." Watt grinned wickedly, and whispered something that I couldn't hear into his ear.

Lark slapped him without looking, although his cheeks flushed, "Stop," He hissed cheeks bright red, "Not here, not in front of them." My eyebrows shot up, what was going on? "So, have you given any thought to our offer, Max?" Lark said, turning towards me.

"What offer is he talking about Max?" Nudge asked me, confused. I stayed silently and Lark winced slightly looking at Watt. He mouthed something, and Watt whispered something back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you hadn't spoken to your... Flock about it. Perhaps they should come over and all discuss with us?" The last part seemed more aimed at Watt than me. "Maybe, ask them about it first," Watt muttered. Rolling his eyes in not exactly an annoyed way. "Thank you, because I honesty didn't think of that." Sarcasm laced the words. "Would you like to come over and discuss the possibilities with us? Or would you rather back out now?" Lark raised an eyebrow. It wasn't said like a challenge, but it almost seemed like one. "We'll come to your meeting."

"Alright, meet us at the Silver Sea hotel, room 124A." Lark said, then stared at me, "We'll be waiting to hear what you have to say. You should probably tell the rest of your flock." Than he turned towards Watt, "Watt, let's go get food! I'm starting to starve."

"You're not going to starve."

"Watt, I ate like, four hours ago. And we were limited on food!"

"You ate a whole box of cereal!"

"And you're point is?" Lark narrowed his eyes at Watt, face completely straight. Watt sighed and checked his watch. "Well, it is twelve thirty, and we said we'd meet the others at twelve forty five... Alright, I'll bite. Let's go."

Lark made a motion something like a fist pump and like he was flipping Watt off. Watt's eyes narrowed and Angel giggled saying to me in my mind, "He's deciding if he's going to be angry with him or not." I almost laughed myself. I wonder why Watt wasn't angry though. He didn't seem like the kind of person that would just let an insult pass him by. Especially with what happened between them with the Walang karne incident, what ever the hell that word even meant.

"So, do you guys live around here?" I asked, trying to direct the conversation else where as we left the store. We had bought all the and accessories that Nudge had on and walked out with her old clothes in a bag and Watt had gotten two t-shirts.

"No, we live in another country," Watt said, "They're very... Old fashioned. Very set in their ways."

"Such as?"

"Women," Lark answered immediately without looking and his expression became stone hard. "They do not work. They do not learn. They do not do anything but become house wives and care for children that they birth. They still rely on monarchy, which isn't bad if the right people are in power, contrary to what your country believes, monarchy is actually very close to democracy in our country. The people get a lot of say in what happens. And from what I can tell, your government is not doing so well, while ours has been in place and fine for hundreds of years."

"So your government isn't flawed." I stated hotly.

"No. It's flawed. Of course it's flawed. As one of your own people, James Madison if I remember correctly, said 'If men were angels there would be no need for government.' The people who run our country are human. And because they are human, they are flawed." Lark said and suddenly Angel mind spoke. 'From how Watt is reacting, this isn't abnormal. He's very smart.' I wanted to nod but settled for glancing at Angel.

"You don't know our government, or our politics, but if you decide to come with us, than you'll have to learn. Our politics, our way of life, our everything. Because if you don't, I can't guarantee that you'll understand what's happening over half the time." Lark apparently didn't have anything left to say because he didn't say anything else and walked to steps ahead. Watt smiled sadly and shook his head, "He's sorry. Well, he's not, but he didn't mean to be rude."

"Fuck, yeah I did!"

"Language Lark!"

"Clam it, anak sa labas! Don't want to hear it!"

"You're one too than!"

"Watt..."

"Lark..."

"Watt."

"Lark. I didn't realize we were practicing saying each others names."

"You always say that!"

"You should probably stop saying my name then!"

"Would you rather me call you by your full name?!"

"Lark! Don't you dare!"

"I will!"

"Don't you of a son of a bitch!"

"Language, Wa-neil-a-ray-dee-too Liss-ah-nada Ka-runa To-la-zin-do Eph-is-lad-in Rec-van-lei-ziel!" At least that's how it sounded to me. Nudge, Angel, and I stared as Watt and Lark glared daggers at each other. I don't want to interrupt what was happening.

Suddenly, Angel mind spoke to me, "That's his full name?"

"Where did they get 'Watt' From?" That was Nudge

"What kind of mother names her child that? And why is he so mad about Lark using his full name?" I asked, and watched as Watt and Lark blew up on each other, getting into a full blown arguement in the middle of the mall drawing strange glances as they yelled at each other in a different language. The words were smooth and flowing but the intent behind them was obvious. The argument went on for almost ten minutes and then Watt said something viciously that seemed to have a violent affect on Lark. He took a step back and like he had just been slapped in the face saying softly, "Cur hoc dixerit?" I didn't understand what it meant and but I knew it hit hard when Lark said it. Watt took a step forward, and said something long and fast. Than he repeated the first part of the sentence again.

"Lee-on, Lee-on." He whispered, "Lee-on, lee-on, Kiuru. Maafkan aku. Behage sorrir" Lark didn't respond and Watt said something else that made him look up and laugh.

Watt laughed too, "Kiuru! Lihat! Sana anda pergi! Dan saya minta maaf. Dicebat quod non essem, non habui jus." Lark bit his lip than nodded.

"Vi estas fajna, olet anteeksi, Chiaro."

"Hea?"

"Hea!" Lark laughed a little, and switched to english talking to us about the different wonders in their country and how America had so many new things and how the culture was so much more modern than there's.

"Wait a minute!" I said, "What the hell was that?!"

"What was what?" Watt looked at me, confused.

"That! The yelling at each other in another language! What was that! What were you saying?"

"Oh, that," Watt said, and Lark took up after that.

"I was mad because he was being an idiot, which he does often, and he was mad because he A) hates his full name. And B) doesn't appreciate that I was being a smart ass and an idiot as well. Fighting leads to both of us becoming frustrated and pulling every past wrong we ever could possibly think of to pull. I mean, we go back to when we first met. And we argue in another language because we don't want the boys or anyone else to interrupt." Lark shrugged, "It's watt's native language. And the boys don't have any patience, let alone the mental capacity to learn another language. Though they do know a few swear words in other languages, but I'm not sure that really counts."

"What was the one word?" Angel asked, curiosity seeming to get the better of her, "The one with the 'k' sound at the beginning?"

"You mean 'Kiuru'?" Watt asked, looking at her. Angel nodded, her thick princess curls bouncing. "Yeah, that one."

"That's a secret." Watt pressed a finger to his lips, he smiled at Lark who was busy taking to Nudge and didn't notice. "Besides, it's a rough translation, and it's hard to get down in this language."

"Oh, so it's hard to say what it is?" Angel was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to know.

"Yeah, something like that but let me tell you something about it," he bent down and whispered something in her ear. Angel listened, and clapped in delight when he finished. And she said in my mind, 'He said if I ever really wanted something from Lark, to call him that.'

'Why?'

'I don't know. He said that Lark likes the name.' Angel shrugged and laughed a little.

We continued walking forward now that their big blow out was done. When we made it to the food court, seven people came at us, all boys. Lark's people began to talk all at once, and two of mine did. "Quiet." Lark said, and the boys fell silent looking at him. "Did you guys find anything interesting?"

"Yeah! RIP found some new ties and..." I lost track of what they were saying as said something. "Yo', we heard some couple, two guys, had a fall out in the hall in a different language. Want to tell us about that?" Dirk asked raising an eyebrow.

"If you already know it's us why are you asking?"

"Did you call him by his full name?"

"Yes."

"You called him by his full name, Lark! Seriously? That's great, what did you do Watt?"

"Apparently I just pissed him off. But it's cool now." Watt laughed. Lark and Watt looked so much more at ease around their people.

"You just happened to run into Lark and Watt? What are the chances of that?" Fang mused quietly, looking me dead in the eyes.

"Yeah, guess it was just a luck."

"Very lucky." He said, and I turned away from his gaze.

"We wouldn't mind you guys eating with us if you want." Sly said, smiling sweetly at us. He was like a lot like Iggy and Gazzy. With a seeming air of innocence, but something screamed that he was a prankster. Maybe it was his eyes.

"Max, can we please?" Iggy asked, grinning at Sly. I rolled my eyes, the Igster was not begging? This wasn't a good sign.

"Sure." I said, and a few cheered but Fang continued to stare at me.

Shaking off his gaze, I took a vote on who wanted to eat where and we all went someplace. "What's Lark doing?" Nudge asked as Lark talked to RIP about something than passed around money to each of them and waved his hands, shooing them away. "Don't know, come on we're going to subway."

"Mind if I join you guys?" Sly, the guy with red hair that was pulled into a low ponytail, asked, "I'm gettin subway too."

"You guys don't go the same place?" Nudge asked

"No, our tastes are too diverse. So Lark has our math matician over there crack some numbers and he tells us our money limit. Then Lark hands it out." Then he looked over at Fang, "Hey, you should guard this better." He told him as he held up Fang's wallet. Fangs dark eyes widened and he felt in his back pocket for his wallet.

"I suggest a chain. They're the bane of all thieves, trust me. That's why I have one." Sly held up a wallet on a chain that hung from his belt loop as he handed Fang's wallet back to him while Fang glared. Sly didn't even seem to notice. "You must teach me you're ways!" Iggy said, and I intervened, "Oh _NO_! The last thing we need is a thieving pyromaniac!"

"Whoa! You do bombs! Like devilition and shit? That's great! Okay, I'll teach you if you teach me!"

"How can he even learn! He's blind!" I pulled out in growing desperation.

"Pfft! It's an even better excuse for bumping into someone and being able to put your hands all over them! Besides! We can train your dog to tell you where people are! Potential victims! This is GREAT!" Oh yeah, Total's still with us too. Though we had to leave him behind for dinner and he was acting as Iggy's seeing eye dog right now.

"You're awesome! I love the way you think!" they high fived, and went on to discuss how they were going to train in such a short amount of time. I looked over at Fang, who shrugged and stepped up to order before. Well thank you, Mr.. Moody. You're so helpful. Gazzy looked slightly annoyed, but when he finally mentioned something, Sly eagerly started talking to both of them. I could see how Gazzy's mood changed as Sly treated him just like Iggy. Glancing around I watched as Lark was ordering as much food as he possibly could going from place to place apparently not finding a single place having everything he wanted, Watt chatted to someone who resembled him slightly in the sense that he was too foreign. RIP was with Bot over by Bread Co. and Dirk was at McDonalds. Lark had a strange way of leading these boys. Not that it was bad, but was weird. He wasn't their leader, but he was. "Hey, Sly," I started and he looked up at me, I waited for a response, but he didn't say anything just stared and I assumed that was his response. "What exactly is Lark to you guys?"

"Hmm... Well," He started, hands reaching to his bangs where he began to braid his hair absently, "I suppose he's our leader, but not really. Lark's one of us, you know you'd think a leader would yell, be better then us, take us for granted, act superior, not really care about our opinion. He doesn't do that at all. Lark listens to us, he wants to hear what we think, and he's told us a lot that he's no better than any of us. I guess that's why we didn't laugh when Bot kicked his ass with the halberd that one time. Well, we laughed, but we didn't mean anything serious by it. I guess to each of us he's something different.

"Bot see's him as someone who understands loss, Dirk see him as someone who understands having no real family, for RIP he's someone who understand intelligence. For me, he's someone who doesn't mind the way I grew up and doesn't hold that against me. As for Watt," Sly smiled, "Watt needs Lark. And Lark needs Watt just as much. I don't understand their connection, but they obviously have something. They're best friends, that much is at least obvious.

"But, we're all family. If we were an actual family, I would imagine that Lark would be the crazy, sometimes strict, fun mom. Or dad, I suppose. But, we're family. Like you guys, you're all obviously different, but I can tell. You guys are family, I don't know how you all came to be a family, but you are." Sly unbraided his hair and a more elaborate maneuver to it. Fang's lip twitched and and his eyes softened, Nudge full out grinned, and Angel smiled sweetly. Iggy and Gazzy slapped him high fives, my own heart softened when I heard. He was right. "Family," Sly said, his own grin spreading, "You hate them as much as you love them. Those guys are my family. We're small, a bit broken, and very dysfunctional, but we're family, ya' know?"

"I know," I said. As strange as they were, family was the only word I would use to describe them. And the more I thought about the more I was sure on what I wanted to do.

As soon as all of our orders were done, we went back just as Lark came back Watt helping him hold trays of food. Two on each on arm and one on Lark's head, Lark had put one on Watt's head as well, who looked annoyed and amused. He gave Lark a look like, 'I can't believe I do this for you'. Exasperated, reminding me of the look Fang gave me when I ran over a stop sign.

Hey! In my defense, those things can be hard to see!

We all sat down and talked to each other, and it felt... Natural. "Oh, Oh! Max," Lark said, around a mouthful of food as he pointed his fork at me, I looked at him, "Do you have a drivers license?" I grinned a little, "I do, put Fang doesn't let me drive." I said, shrugging.

Lark nodded sympathetically, "I know how that is, I actually don't have a license. One of the other guys drives mostly."

I raised an eyebrow, "Really?" Lark was no the kind of person you thought would let someone else drive. It just didn't seem right.

"Yeah, but only when we travel to place like here, we actually don't have a car where we live. Gas is way to expensive."

"But you don't drive?"

Lark rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I would and I know how, except I'm not allowed to."

"Why not?"

He opened his mouth to answer when Watt cut in, "Road rage, the told him to try anger management than to take the test next year. Nice right?"

"So, wait, who drives than?" Iggy asked.

"Watt has to. Sly would undoubtedly crash us for fun, RIP's license is on suspension because he hit a pedestrian. Dirk can and it's legal but he can't have anyone sitting behind him because he has to scoot the seat so far back that it squishes the person who behind him's legs. It just causes too many problems, then Bot doesn't because it's awkward for whoever is in the front seat and he, as well as Sly, gets distracted too easily. So Watt drives mostly."

"Fang drives us most the time, he's the only one who has a license. Iggy can't because he's blind, and Nudge is working on getting hers."

We made small talk and as the day progressed, Nudge had the outfit from Hot Topic, Iggy and Gazzy got some new... I don't even want to know, Angel got a new dress, Fang found a shirt that he liked (black of course) and I ended up getting a new t-shirt as well, the one I was wearing was old and though I hadn't grown in a while still felt small. We moved a lot still, finding that our secret never stayed secret long. And than the press and media was all over us. It made the offer of going to a remote country very appealing. Lark had talked about the wide expanses of forest and other natural beauties. How most of the land was untouched because the country was very old fashioned. Not that they minded, though.

As we left I remembered what Lark had said earlier, 'Silver Sea Hotel. Room 124A.'

"Fang, what would you think about getting a more permanent home?" I asked him as he drove us back to the motel we were staying. Fang looked at me, "Sounds cool and the kids would like that." His voice was deeper than it had been all those years ago, but quiet still.

"what about moving out of the country?"

"What are you thinking about, Max?"

"Lark offered for us to move in with them, he said that he could teach us how to fight like they do."

"And you want to do it?" It wasn't really a question, if more of a confirmation.

"We could try it, and if we don't like it book it. Besides, the rest of the flock seem to like them a lot. What do you think though?"

"I think it's dangerous, but learning to fight like them... That could prove to be useful. If you want to, I'll stand by it."

"Really? I was thinking about seeing them tonight to see what exactly the situation is."

Fang considered it, "What do we have to lose? Let's do it."

Half an hour later, we made it to the hotel and to the room. We were questioned and were going to get escorted out by security until Angel mind controlled the guy into showing us to the room. The hotel was actually _super_ nice. Nice enough that I wondered how they could afford it. I thought they were eighteen but this was the type of place a millionaire stayed in.

Surprisingly it was Bot who opened the door when we knocked. He smiled a little and gave us a rapid amount of hand signals which none of us understood at all. Not noticing, he turned, stomped his foot against the ground a few times as someone else yelled for him to get a life. Back handing the wall he stomped again. "WHAT? Sly is sleeping, I'm working on a big project, Dirk's skyping, and Lark and Watt are doing God knows what! Just because you're frustrated that you're oil project for Quick isn't working doesn't mean... Oh, we have company. I'll get Lark, you let them in." RIP walked ran deeper into the hotel like apartment. Bot rolled his eyes in annoyance making hand signs to no one in paticular as he led us in past a living area and into a full kitchen and dinning room."

Dirk gestured for us to sit down and signed something slowly and carefully. The entire Flock looked at each other, we still didn't understand. "He wants to know if you want anything to drink or eat." Lark was leaning against the door frame, hand stuck deep into her pockets. Watt was behind him and the others [RIP standing slightly to the right of Watt and looking over his shoulder, and Sly was on Dirk's back head resting on his shoulder sleepily]. "Lark, we came to talk about your offer," I said, trying to muster the authority that Lark had when he spoke. "I thought as much, there's really o other reason you would be here otherwise, no? I'm glad you came, we might be drifting in and out, but I'll be in here the entire time. So, do you guys want anything? It's really no problem."

"I'll take a soda," Gazzy said, just as I was about to tell him 'no thanks'. I sent him a glare and he hastily added, "Please, if it's okay."

"No, no, this is on our country. We just graduated and we had a rough five years the government decided that we have earned a vacation. Nice enough. We shall want for nothing and our country is actually very rich."

"In that case, I'll take soda, what you got?" Iggy asked.

"Room service. Anything you want. Just tell me and I'll call them."

We gave him our orders and he turned seeing everyone behind him rolled his eyes. "You guys don't have to hang around, we've already talked about this. I'll let you know the details afterwards, it's not going to be very interesting, so. Join if you want, but Dirk, at least put Sly back in his room."

"Hmm..." Sly lifted his head a little and blinked blearily, "Lark, did you need me?" He asked tiredly.

Lark's eyes went incredibly soft as he looked at him, "No, no. You go back to sleep, 'kay? You've been staying up way too late to watch reruns of 'Jeweler's Trade'."

"They have so many sparkly things though," He muttered, clearly making an effort to stay up.

"I know. I've seen it. But if you go to sleep now, I'll take you to look at _actual_ sparkly things. Ones you can touch. You can even have one. You just have to promise not to steal any of them."

"Sounds nice, alright. But only because your so damn persuasive." Sly laid his head back down and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure that it." Lark smiled at him and gave a little shooing motion. "RIP, I wouldn't want to keep you from your project, you've been working on it for months. Go, and if you need a break or help I'll be in here. Dirk, you're girlfriend, **_DO NOT_** keep her waiting, and can you skype Quick too? Sly hasn't talked to her today, and I'm afraid that she's going to be worried. So can you just tell her that he's alright, oh, and." Lark motioned for Dirk to bend down (he had to be two and half feet taller than him). Dirk grinned and nodded. "Good, take him to bed please, he's exhausted. Bot," Lark turned to face him, "Please, go work on your oil piece. It looks really good, by the way. She's going to love it. And you got her hair perfect, just the right hue." Bot beamed with pride and nodded. Going off. "And you sir," Lark gave Watt a strange look, "Come along with me, and we'll be right back."

"I didn't know that Bot was an artist," Angel said suddenly, "Fang, maybe you should look at his art work since you draw too." Fang nodded, but remained silent. The awkward silence hung in the air as we waited so it was a good thing when Lark returned a moment later, "Watt's going to stay in here with us. I'm going to order room service. And try not to look so... Rigid. Relax a little." He walked out and Watt took a seat at the opposite the end of the table, tipped his chair back, and put his feet up on the table.

"What happened to Sly?" Iggy asked, having 'seen' the scene through Angel's eyes.

Watt snorted, "What happened? He went on a caffeine crash."

"What?"

"He's been staying up, watching this show called Jeweler's Trade. Loves it because it has so many gems and all that. He loves sparkly things for some weird reason. It's been on marathon for the past five days. Sly thought it would be a good idea to see as many as he could. So he's been choking down as much caffeine as possible. Coffee. Tea. Soda. Chocolate. Anything vaguely caffeinated, he's been consuming. He crashed at about six. And has been out ever since."

"How long has he been up?"

"At least 114 hours. Which is like four and three fourths days. Yeah. He's insane. But he's also used to pulling all nighters."

"Why would he do that?"

"He _really_ likes sparkly things. We have TV, but our shows are a little different. Plus we're pretty active, so we don't need it. There are _plenty_ of entertaining things happening at our house, trust me. Oh, shit, I hope Quick is handling Zippy alright. Can't believe I forgot." Watt put an arm over his eyes. "I totally forgot about that."

"Who's Zippy? You're dog?" Nudge asked, somehow controlling herself.

"He's our pet lizard, but, he's a... Venomous lizard."

"He's a Gem Gecko, not a lizard," Lark narrowed his eyes at Watt as he walked in with drinks and some snacks, placing them on the table.

Watt put his hands on his face giving Lark the fakest 'I'm sorry' look ever, "Oh my God!" His voice was layered with sarcasm, "I'm sooooo sorry! I might have offended him! That poor gecko!"

Lark didn't respond, but took a seat next to Lark, resting his elbows on the table then his head in his hands. "So, I'm going to go ahead and guess that you don't know what you're choosing. Want to know exactly what this entails, and are curious just about the situation in general?"

"Hit the nail on the head." Fang said without a trace of humor.

Lark nodded as best he could, "Well, I could explain it, but let's start with questions. What do you _want_ to know?"

It was Nudge who cut me off, "Where would we stay?"

"You would stay at our house, we all live together so it's going to be a bit crowded. Also Quick would be staying there and we sometimes take in other people."

"What do you mean about 'other people' and who's Quick?" Iggy asked.

"Quick is Sly's little sister. They're really close."

"As thick as thieves," Watt added and Lark groaned. "You did not just make that pun. I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that because that was one of of your worst, and Quick technically isn't a thief. She's an artist. The other people would most likely be Sly's other siblings. Sometimes His family kicks them out of the house and he takes them in until they have enough money to live there again. Other times, we take in people who don't have anywhere else to go. Over half the time, it's just the inn is full and they need a place to rest for the night. The most was a week. Don't worry about it. Besides, they sleep on the second floor with me and Watt. I'm a pretty light sleeper and Watt does not appreciate getting woken up.

"You got that right." Watt muttered, eyes mostly shut. Lark glanced at him than did a double take.

"For the record if you fall, I will laugh at you."

Watt seemed to consider the response, "Will you help me after you finish laughing?"

"Sure."

"Worth it than."

Lark shook his head, "Please ignore him and continue."

"Would we have to share rooms?" Angel asked

"Possibly, we haven't really explored the house all the way. We just knew it had what we needed and bought it."

"Would we have to do anything, or pay?" Fang was apparently the only one thinking practically.

"Chores. You would have to help, no offense. Because there will be twelve people under one roof and that's going to be a lot of work. Don't worry about having to pay a rent or anything, we won't charge. You all will be way to tired from training to even consider a job."

"We don't tire easily though, in fact we have amazing stamina and endurance." Nudge protested.

"You obviously haven't met Lark. He's going to work you to the bone, no matter what your stamina is. He doesn't want you to have to worry about money because he doesn't want to say it but we're loaded." Watt added

For a second I felt vaguely guilty. Would I be as strong as the boy in front of me who life had delt him all the wrong cards? We had been through a lot of shit, but at the same time I got the feeling that though this boy hadn't been an experiment, he had been through a lot too. I guess I felt guilty because I felt like I was cheating. I was super-human and this tiny guy kicked my ass. Maybe he was an experiment too. That's how he was so powerful.

"You're loaded?" That was Gazzy.

"Yes."

"How?"

"The government pays it's top soldiers a considerate amount of money, we're war veterans, and we do some... _side jobs_."

"You're war veterans?" Iggy asked

"Yes."

"Who did you fight?"

"The country that makes up the other half of me." Watt replied

"Was it bad?"

"All war is bad, but it wasn't too terrible." Lark said, and Watt's eyes opened to stare at him unbelievingly.

"Nakalimutan mo ang bahagi kapag ikaw ay kinuha bilang isang bilanggo ng digmaan?" Watt asked him softly but with a focused intensity.

"Mi neniam povus, kaj vi scias tion. Mereka tidak perlu tahu, meskipun." Lark answered looking Watt from the corner of his eyes.

"Miksi, Kiuru? Dahil sa tingin mo makikita nila sa iyo bilang bayani ka?"

"Tidak. Lorem ipsum retell ut nolint. Vivere rusus et hoc iterum."

"Entenc. Anem llavors." Watt finished, closing his eyes again though he still seemed vaugely aggitated for some reason. Lark looked at him, and sighed.

"Saya akan bercakap kepada anda lebih lanjut mengenai ia kemudian ya?

"Baiklah."

Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy exchanged strange glance and I realized that was the first that they had ever heard them argue.

"Sorry," Lark apologized, "Yes, all war is bad. And the war between my country and Watt's was no different. Now, back to the living situation."

"Of course. Sorry. What does the training entail?"

"I'm not exactly sure yet. We have to determine your weapons and than you begin your _real_ training. Determining your weapons could take months though. I'm sure it'll be simple enough, though."

"What do you mean by 'determining our weapons'?" Iggy asked.

"You need to know what you can fight with. What works best for you because your weapon needs to be an extension of yourself and not just a tool you using. You might as well be swinging a giant stick if a sword doesn't feel right. We need to figure out which weapons suit each one of you."

"What's your weapon?" Nudge asked

Lark laughed and Watt spoke, "Lark's a bad example. I, on the other, hand am a good one. My weapon of choice are Katanas. Two swords wielded at once. I can use other weapons, but not with the same... Efficiency, we'll call it."

"Why isn't Lark a good example?"

Watt and Lark looked at each other. Lark gave him a pointed look and Watt said, "You'll understand eventually. It's... Hard to explain. But what else?"

"Never mind the questions, we're getting no where, ask questions when we're done." Lark interrupted. "Look this is the basics; you'll be living with us. You might be sharing rooms. No rent, or fee. You'd have to do chores. You'd train with us from about mid-morning to evening. Be aware, I will probably do random drills at the most inconvenient times possible. You'll be learning to fight with _classic_ weapons. My country doesn't have guns, nor do any of the other ones. We aren't third world, just old fashioned. Girls are treated like less. Be aware. Cell phone service sucks, so we have walkie talkies. Don't, I can see the smart ass comment coming. So stop. In our family, we shamelessly tease you. Nothing too serious, but be aware that it will happen. You get one day a week off. We normally turns cooking for those of us who can cook. If you can't, don't. Just save everyone the time and trouble. We'll walk most places. Money is not a problem for us for several reason. Sometimes, some of us will be sent on missions and leave for extended periods of times. Feel free to leave at any point in time. We are not your captors and you are free to have as much training or as little as possible. We'll discuss what happens at the end of you training when we get there. Food is pretty much the same, though the spices are different. Watch out for Zippy. He's Sly's pet technically and he does not do a good enough job watching him. Do not insult the king. I'll inform you to any important political events happening in case you need to know. Don't hesitate to ask about something and now you can ask questions again."

And an hour later, after discussing it with Lark, I was pretty sure we had our decision.


	3. AN OC Note

I really should have posted this before I started, so I apologize. This is just the an authors note. So ignore if you don't want to read it.

There are six OC's in this story. It's a crossover between my friends novel [which has not been published] and Maximum Ride. But you probably want to learn a bit about the characters. Just know one thing:

They keep some pretty big secrets. Just so you know.

But enough of that, the characters:

Lark:

He's about 4 11, but where's boots which gives him an extra inch or two. He's the leader of their small group, weighs less than a hundred pounds, and is the most skilled fighter of the group. He wears large clothing so people don't see how thin he actually is. He carries a lot of secrets and responsibilites. Sarcastic, a pain, tough, but still considerate is a good leader and the other boys respect him... A lot. His short spikey hair appears to be black but is actually is a very dark blue and his small round face is dominate by large bright blue eyes.

Watt:

Lark's best friend, he's around 5 11, 6 foot. He's also very lean and has a very... delicate face because of his orgins. His eyes eyes are slanted and silver as is his hair which goes to about his shoulders and is a complete train wreck. He loves to argue and will whenever possible, spends most of his time with Lark [no it's not because he's dependent on Lark, they're just very close.], and is also generally sarcastic and witty. He's kind, and is mostly the yin to Lark's yang. [Lark doesn't argue or debate. He knows he's right and leaves it that.] Watt also loves to sleep and does not like being woken up.

Sly:

Born and raised a thief he loves sparkly objects and other 'pretties'. He's about 5 10 and is thin like Watt and Lark. He has long red hair [it goes to about his waist] and green eyes. He's the clown of the group. Always up to something, mischevious and has a knack for getting into trouble. His real name is Siren and he was given that when he was a baby and he started crying because the police were coming. Also he can sell just about any lie and make it look totally believeable. He's interesting, fun, and compeletly random.

Bot:

Mute. He's only spoken to Lark privately once and the entire group he said something to another time. But he has a lot of trouble speaking due to the fact that he hasn't in so long. He speaks using a completely unique set of hand signals. The foot stomping in chapter two is because he realized they didn't understand what he was trying to say and no one else was there. He enjoys art and is extremely mild peronality. He's 6 2 with brown hair and brown eyes. He has long bangs and dresses in mostly black. He's really into drawing but with Quick's help, tries to expand his mediums. He also writes a lot.

Dirk:

Easily the biggest guy in the group. He stands at 7 10 and has broad shoulders. He's the only one with blonde hair [That's very short] and has light brown eyes. He's also the only one out of all of them that has a girlfriend. And has had a steady girlfriend. Though they've all dated [well, except Lark]. He's hotheaded, stubborn, but gentle. Loves animals and sword fighting. And as far as I can tell he's probably my friends least developed character. Although she's constantly thinking of random ass things to add to his personailty. But he's mostly the muscle of the group. BTW: 'DIRK' IS A SCOTTISH WORD FOR KNIFE! IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME GOT TO GOOGLE IMAGES AND TYPE IN 'A D-I-R-K'. Thank you!

RIP:

Him and Lark are easily the smartest in the gang. RIP's technically a con man and a gambler. He works hard, has a perfect poker face, and doesn't smile often. Dark skin, but with light hazel eyes he wears glasses. His head is shaved and he takes care of the groups finances. He can be a real jack-ass, but underneath that. _WAY DEEP _underneath that, he's pretty awesome as Lark and them find out. He just takes a long time to get through. OH, he's Bot's height, maybe a bit taller. And they both have broad shoulders. [but not nearly as broad shoulders as Dirk].

So those are my friends characters. I apologize for not posting this sooner, but I totally forgot. And I won't be writing the chapters from her characters POV she will be. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Her characters are definitly... different.

Ciao!


	4. Chapter 4

**Sup folkies! Glad to post again! I want to remind you guys that this chapter is written by my friend to whom the characters belong to. And do not use her character unless she gives you permission. Soooo... and I forgot. Copy right to James Patterson because If I owned it, I would hand it over to my friend [whom edits all of my writing and does a lot more than she gets credit for] who would write it ****_right._**

**_Anyway... ENJOY!_**

Lark's POV:

"Oh dear god," I groaned and flopped onto my bed sprawling out in a way that certainly didn't say that I was the top graduate in my battle school, a veteran, and had almost died several times. Watt didn't comment, thank god because I didn't that right now, but rubbed my back. I liked the people we had met, I really did. But explaining everything without giving away my secret had been a nightmare.

"Hey Lark, you said you'd explain later." Watt said quietly.

"I did."

"It's later."

"Right, right," I rolled over and looked up at my best friend but I couldn't think of what to tell him. I couldn't just say that what I went through wasn't terrible because he had seen the wounds afterwards. He knew how long it had taken me to recover. He knew, and I couldn't lie because he would see right through it. And I knew the truth, I had been lying to protect those kids though. They may be the same age as us, and they had definitely been through a lot, but they weren't as aged as us.

"Lark, you were a POW**_[A/N: For those who don't know, that means 'Prisoner of War']_**.You were tortured for information you didn't have but had to pretend like you did have it because you knew they'd kill you if you told them that. And you didn't tell them that? Why? Do you think that it's because they'll see you as a freaking super human or something?"

"No, it's not because of that."

"Then why? You made it sound like it was damn picnic. Lark that was way past terrible, it was something straight out of a hell, and you know that. Why did you lie?"

"They don't need to know what happened."

"You remember what Dr. Salzo said? Telling people helps PTSD, you couldn't even touch your knives for almost six months after that. And I'm not even going to mention the nightmares. You're mostly over it, but still. Whatever can help."

"I did share what happened, though," I protested and Watt raised an eyebrow at me, "You. And I don't want to tell anyone else. And I'm not going to and if you tell anyone else, I will kick your ass." Watt sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. Giving me the _'I don't know what to do with you because you're driving me fucking insane' _look. Which is an actual look, because he gave it to me often. He laid down on his side, facing me, and didn't say anything for a few minutes. But when he did, it was deep.

"You're a pain in the ass."

If anybody else had said that to me, I would have kicked _their_ ass. But Watt told me things like that when he didn't know what to do with me. And he put up with me a lot, so I couldn't really object. I didn't respond to him, just stared passively.

"But..." He started and it came long and drawn out, and almost sounded like it ended with another sigh, "You're my pain in the ass. And though you're going to turn my hair grey, I suppose it's my responsibility to deal with you. Whether or not you end up to be the death of me."

There was silence for a few minutes. Not a lot of time, but a few. Before Watt spoke up again, "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"No!" I protested and he gave me another look. The '_Don't give me that bull' _look.

"It's because of what I said earlier isn't it? You really believed me? You brought up the poster incident. Remember?"

"Of course, you idiots and the damn posters. I couldn't believe you guys did that. Scratch that, I couldn't believe YOU did that. I remember, I was so angry. So pissed off at you because you were better than that. And you did it anyway." I put a hand on my head and groaned, "I didn't speak to you for an entire month. And the fact that you were mad at me because I was upset with you just made it worse."

"It wasn't just that I was mad."

"No?"

"No, I was... ashamed. Because I knew you were right. I stooped down to their level and I shouldn't have done that. I just wanted to get them back. You yelled at all of us, and than told me to stay behind to talk to you."

"And I told you the revenge wasn't the answer."

"And I told you that I wasn't going to be sorry for protecting my own..."

Ah, that day was so clear. I remembered the posters clearly and immediately knew who had made them. There wasn't anyone who I had doubted who would be able to get them to work together and keep it on the DL from me. There was only one person who could bust out that many artistic poster and such little time. And there were only two people who I knew who could get the dirt on someone. I had known it was those five before they had even called me into the Battle Master's office.

* * *

_"What were you idiots thinking!" I yelled, "You... You... YOU all are just as bad as them now! You don't stoop to their level! You don't become the enemy! Yeah, bad things happened to us, but this is not the answer!"_

_"We just wanted them to understand, Lark," Sly said quietly. None of them looked at me as I paced back forth in front of them._

_"This isn't going to get them to understand. We don't need them to understand. This is throwing kerosene on a lantern in a stable! You're going to start a war. And we already have it hard enough as it is, we don't need more of this. We... We need to be better. And this is not making us better than them, we're worse than them now."_

_"Lark... We were just standing up for ourselves. Like you tell us to." Dirk spoke now. And I shook my head._

_"No. This is taking someone's past and exploiting it. You guys know that. You know that you wouldn't want anyone digging into what's happened to you. You guys are smart enough to know the difference from this and what I meant by that. At least I thought you were. But since it's not clear, allow me to explain. I meant, if you guys are attacked. If someone does something to you first, by all means do what ever it takes to ruin them. But doing this... This was cruel and mean and you guys are not cruel, mean people."_

_'We're sorry, Lark' Bot signed_

_"Don't feel sorry for me, feel sorry for the people you hurt. Because the damage you guys may have cause will not heal like our wounds do. You guys are dismissed." I said and waved a hand. They stood right before they left I called out. "Watt, Stay." I looked at the ceiling but could see the guys whisper nervously._

_"You all can go," I glared, and the left leaving Watt hanging by the door, shoulders tensed._

_"I know you're the one who got them to do it." I said, "I know you thought of it, I know that you decided to do that."_

_"Why did you just say that in front of them? It's not like they didn't know it anyway."_

_"Because I'm going to yell at you in paticular."_

_He turned around, frustration clearly written on his face, "For what?"_

_"Because you're better than this!" Now I was yelling, "YOU are better than this! I expect that from them! I'm still trying to get some sense into their thick skulls! But YOU!? You I expect better from! I thought you would be above this! This was not the answer to our problems! Revenge is not what we do! And it is sure as hell never the answer!"_

_"I'm not apologizing to you for this! I'm not going to tell you I'm sorry, because I'm not! I protect my own, and I'm not apologizing for protecting my people. Our people. I knew you would react like this, so I didn't tell you! But they deserve this!"_

_"It's not about what they deserve! We don't chose what people deserve! It isn't our place! It isn't our job! And you can't! You can't chose that for someone!"_

_"Why not? Are you saying that they don't deserve a little karma to come around and get them back? That we don't deserve a little justice?"_

_"We don't need to hurt them to feel better about ourselves is what I'm saying! We don't need to do this to get back!"_

_"We do! We need to show them we aren't going to sit back and take this!"_

_"Watt! STOP! What about me, huh? What do I deserve than? I ran away from home, I've been lying about what I am, I abandoned all of my duties! My responsibilities! The things that, if I should have stayed for any reason, it was because of that! Because that was the right thing for me to do, and I chose wrong! So what do I deserve?"_

_"What you did was different. You..."_

_"I didn't hurt anyone? That's wrong, and you know it. I've hurt a lot of people, Watt. Because I'm different now, even though my ideas are still the same, doesn't mean I haven't done bad things. I've done a lot of bad things. So what do I deserve?"_

_He just stared at me and I continued, "If we're judging here, we can't forget what we've already done."_

_"You're saying we should just sit by and do nothing?!"_

_"No, but I'm saying that we need to at least try and be better than them. That we need to at least attempt to do better. And this was showing that we are no better than them. How could you do this? What if they got someone to get all the info on you? You wouldn't want someone digging around in your past so why would you do it to someone else."_

_"I'm not apologizing for protecting my own, and I'd do it again in a heart beat to protect you all again." I didn't respond. Though we didn't always see eye to eye, we had one major part of our personality in common._

_We're both stubborn as hell._

_He walked out, and I waited for the Battle Master to walk in to discuss punishment._

* * *

"I always feel bad when you bring that up. And today... I don't know, I just... I got carried away and I mentioned what you did. I mentioned what you said that you could be judged. I shouldn't have brought it up, because it's _not_ my right to talk about those things. And I didn't mean to. I shouldn't have said that to you. And I am really sorry."

"I knew that already," And I did. Because he's Watt. And I couldn't possibly hold a grudge against him.

"Hey Lark?"

I looked up at him, and he smiled, "You did do the right thing. You were right to leave. And you were right to leave."

"Why is that?"

"First off, I wouldn't have you here, with me, and that would be a freaking tragedy because quite frankly at this point I don't know how I would function if you just left. I have this vague suspicion that it would not be very pretty. Second, These guys would be in prison by now if not for you. Third, this is you. I know it is, because I've seen how you used to be. And this is you."

"Thank you Watt." I said, yawning.

"Kiuru," He insisted upon calling me that name. Not that I really minded though. "Kiuru, you need to sleep. You worry way too much. About us, and now about strangers and about the stupid things I say. YOUR hair is going to turn grey."

"You're not the boss of me. I'm the boss of you. Don't order me around."

"Right now, when you are unfit to to make this decision for yourself because you're stupid, I get to be the boss. And if I come back in here in an hour and your still awake doing... Whatever the hell it is you do during the middle of the night. I swear to god, I will sedate you."

"Whatever," I muttered closing my eyes. Though my eyes were shut I knew exactly what was happening. Watt stared at me, rolled his eyes, than smiled. He would lift his hand and run it through my hair. Then he would get up and I felt him pull the blankets up and over me. Then he went to the door. "Good night, Lark."

"Good night, And Watt, I'm not sure how I would function without you ether." I replied, eyes still shut. "Sleep well, Chiaro."

"You too." than he left and I let the darkness engulf me like a blanket.

* * *

Max's POV:

As we had discovered, yesterday had been their last day of vacation. We were here at the airport with the Lark and his gang at 11:30. Each one of them had a carry on and RIP and Bot both had a messenger bag too. Fang had his laptop and each of us had a backpack with spare clothes and the small knickknacks we carried around. The gang had been excited that we had accepted their offer to go to their country who's name still escaped me **_[A/N: Actually, my friend hasn't chosen a name for it yet. Nice, right?]_**. We weren't really sure what was going to happen and the thought unnerved me. I liked to have a plan, yet I had none here.

I also had not loved the fact that we would be riding in a tin can of flying death.

But Lark had spotted us and paid for first class tickets, so we couldn't complain TOO much.

"This is a nonstop flight, right?" I asked, and Lark glanced up from what he was reading.

"Yep, nonstop to home. I can't wait." Lark sighed, gaze fixed somewhere far away.

"You miss your home?" Fang asked surprisingly and I looked at him.

"More than you can imagine. It was nice to take a break and see all the modern technology and such, but... I miss stone creek, the markets, Obsidian, Terra's food." Lark licked his lips and shuddered, eyes shut. "Uh, Lark?" Nudge asked, trying to snap him out from his daze.

"Let me guess," Watt came up right behind me from getting snacks, "He mentioned Terra's food and is now fantasizing about it?" Watt grinned manically and gestured for Sly to come over. "Food Fantasy." He stated and Sly rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. "Got it."

"What's happening?" I asked Watt as he watched Sly go so he was right by Lark's ear.

"Sly is an expert fantasy breaker. Just tell him the daydream or fantasy and he knows what to do, watch."

I did, just as Sly said, "RIP's cooking,"

Lark immediately chocked and gagged. "Oh my god," he said as he brought his hands to his mouth like he was trying to stop himself from vomiting, "Ugh, No. Don't remind me of that one time. Blagh."

"My work is done." Sly said, and waltzed away. "I take it RIP's cooking is bad?" I asked.

"Terrible."

"As if Lark's is any better!" RIP shouted.

"It's true but at least Lark makes an effort to learn how to get better," Dirk confided, "Sly does the cooking. But you have to be careful around his Random Soup."

"What exactly is Random Soup and what's in it? How do you make it?" Nudge asked.

"Well, it's called 'Random Soup' for a reason and I have never had two of his Random Soups that are exactly the same."

"But this isn't the point," Lark cut in, "Are you guys excited? You get to see where you'll be living until you want to leave. I hope you like it, because if not that's going to suck."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Good, because we're boarding, and than we'll be home."


End file.
